Winter Tires question CX-9

All,

For a 2020 CX 9 GT, the wheel size is 255/50/R20. I have a spare set of 225/65/R17 winter tires.

Will they fit? Thanks!
 
The 17" should fit no problem, but are much smaller. Results will be speedo and such will be off, and the smaller tires will leave a much larger gap in the wheel wells.
 
The 17" should fit no problem, but are much smaller. Results will be speedo and such will be off, and the smaller tires will leave a much larger gap in the wheel wells.

Doesn't the base model come with 18" rims?

Yes - I recognize the speedo will be off, but in terms of functionality it should be fine right?

And it's Canadian winter. We aren't driving fast at all.
 
17 inch rims fits, that's what my canadian dealer put on when ordering winter tires for clients. Your tire size is off (smaller) compared to the OEM dimension. On 17'' rim, ideally you should go with a tire that is a bit bigger, but this would do if you don't care about the usual caveats of speedometer being off and potentially (maybe) some traction control weirdness (i don't think anyone experienced it but it is a possibility).
 
You are going to lose 3/4" of ground clearance with that setup. Will that be a problem in deeper snow?
 
Is there a problem going from 31" to 28"? Legitimately asking, I don't know if it is an issue.

Everything I've seen on the internet says the only problems are the speedo not being perfectly accurate and the loss of ground clearance. I don't think there will be any issues with traction control as all four wheels will be the same size. From my understanding, if the front wheels are smaller in diameter than the rear wheels, the traction control system can interpret the difference in rotational speeds as slip and cause the system to engage.
 
Everything I've seen on the internet says the only problems are the speedo not being perfectly accurate and the loss of ground clearance. I don't think there will be any issues with traction control as all four wheels will be the same size. From my understanding, if the front wheels are smaller in diameter than the rear wheels, the traction control system can interpret the difference in rotational speeds as slip and cause the system to engage.

Speedo - yep - hear you loud and clear. I ain't going anywhere quickly in a Canadian winter. You aren't either haha.

Ground clearance - this is a highway warrior, not going north for winter camping.

So all in all - save for the ground clearance bit - there should be no safety issues with that size. It will look terrible due to the tiny wheels, but the car will safely look terrible.
 
I'm running 245/65-17 with good results. The rule of thumb is that tires should be withing 2% of the original OD. Do the 225s have adequate weight carrying capacity for this car?
 
This web site calculator should provide you the info you need
 
I'm planning to run 245/70R17 winter tires. They're 30.5", or 0.46" (1.5%) larger than OEM 255/50R20 tires on my 2017 GT (30.04"). 225/65/R17 tires are 28.52", or 5% smaller. You'll lose about 3/4" of ground clearance, and your speedometer will read about 5% faster than you're actually travelling. You may lose a little on real world fuel economy as well, although the onboard computer won't really show that difference - it thinks you've gone 100km when you've actually only travelled 95km.
 
Does anyone know why the GTs in the U.S. only show 255/50/R20 as compatible tire size? Makes no sense to me since the base model comes with 255/60/R18 tires. Can anyone help me understand this?
Looking to get 18in Blizzaks for winter but whenever I try to buy them online I am being told they don’t fit my car even though the tire will exactly fit if I calculated correctly.
Thoughts?
 
GT and higher models come with 20" wheels. GS and GS-L come with 18" wheels. Thats why they list 255/50/20 tire as that is what will fit on the stock wheel on the GT.
 
GT and higher models come with 20" wheels. GS and GS-L come with 18" wheels. Thats why they list 255/50/20 tire as that is what will fit on the stock wheel on the GT.
Thank you!
I am leasing my CX-9 GT - could I get into any “trouble” not adhering to the factory-size wheels and install 255/60/R18 winter tires instead? I assume there is no technical reason for the larger rims on the GT, correct? I am asking since the sign on the driver door side only lists the 20in wheel option as compliant equipment fir my car. Again, makes no sense to me that the 18in wheel as spec’d above would not be a fit.
Thoughts?
 
You would be absolutely fine running a 255/60/18 winter tire but you would need a different set of wheels, as the 18” tire would of course not fit on a 20” wheel.
 
You are fine with 18". In fact on the CX-9 you can go as far down as 17". This is what my dealer here recommends for winter tires.

Sometime online they will say that tires won't fit because the difference in load rating or in speed rating is too large from the original tires. I bet the blizzak as a lower speed rating than the other tires proposed online and that's why they show the blizzak as not available.

That being said if you plan on using steel rims, I would recommend going with a tire with a narrower profile (either in 18" or in 17" inch). I did just like you and bought 255/60/R18 Nokian, but it never occurred to me that the 18" steel wheels are almost all 7" wide, and a 255 wide tire is better suited to a 8" tire. For example 255/60R18 Blizzaks DM-V2 states that they will fit on Rims 7.0 to 9.0 inch wide. So they technically are safe to use on 7 inch, but that is the bare minimum wheel width that they will fit on. I was never warned about this and finding out steel rims width is not always easy.

On my Nokian, the tires sidewalls are really round and I am having a hard time getting them balanced properly, it could be bad wheels but two of them were already replaced and I got the tire rebalanced multiple times. I am now wondering if that's because of the narrow rims. I was planning to either sell them and change them for narrower 17" or buying wider 18" wheels, but I didn't have the funds for it this fall.
 
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